Wednesday, 20 January 2010

And dress in purple, green, yellow and diamonds

I managed to watch the committee meeting late last night on Parliament TV. Standing in the tiny, cold upstairs kitchen without a working light bulb, I peered into a laptop.

I am grateful. It's not like I had to lean backwards from the skylight with a television aerial gripped between my teeth.

The home education people giving evidence to the committee were strong, mostly. Chloe is astonishing. How old is she? Seventeen? I hope Shark, Squirrel and Tiger are as confident, articulate, commanding. She is the type of wonderful creature that shows you what it is to have an open thinking education. Unafraid to express her rights, know her freedoms; she is confidence without arrogance, expression without fear.

Fiona made her point: she said that there are families who aren't sleeping, aren't eating. For a whole year! Can you imagine that? There are ghosts among us; they walk abroad at night, hollow eyed. It's dramatic, that.

But I know what she means.

Our family has lived with this political process for one year. It is draining, and it has changed us. Made me stronger. More determined. Grittier.

In this last year, home educators have argued against negative press reports, signed petitions, coordinated information requests, written documents, collated responses, researched statistics, made videos, written blogs, letters, scripts, passed around news, run behind the scenes, coordinated picnics, protests, other people.

Telling you all, telling you all, home education is not the end. It's not what they say it is. It's the beginning. It's filled with opportunity, it's a community, a lifestyle, outdoors, indoors; it's anything you want it to be for your children. And it's strong.

But I know what Fiona means.

The last year has affected us in oh so tiny ways. Ways you wouldn't see or know, unless you are the type of person who knows themselves so closely - habits, preferences, the way you might turn this way or that - that you can detect differences in yourself, at the moment why you made this choice, not that.

When I have twenty minutes from lunch to the moment I bundle the kids into the car, I might once have quickly checked the events of a museum, called up the website to West Stow, planned in my head a day trip, imagined family, grabbed a phone number. But now, I don't do those things, unless I make time. Now, in twenty minutes, I check the parliament site. I find the message about the Lords. I make a note about the government position statement. I jot a name from the local authority. That is a difference this year has made to me. It is tiny, and it is huge.

And there is another way that life has changed. Once, I would stride along the street midday Monday behind three dancing gritlets making noise enough to rouse ten skeletons. I would have considered this a duty. By our very being, telling everyone that school is not the only option. That childhood can be better sometimes in the open air.

But now I reflect on the experience of the police and the truancy patrol and the threats and the negative media reports, and I fear glances of people in the street who know that only people like me do these things, and terrible things; how we fail children, everybody knows, people say. It must be true, otherwise the government wouldn't want to know, would they, unless there was something to know.

Some days I have thought we will wait till late afternoon before we go out the house. Then I can minimise the fear that I will be stopped in the street, made to account for myself, forced to fill in forms, expose my children to the argument, feel humiliated, because I chose something other than a classroom. It's safer to stay inside.

These are ways this year has changed us.

Of course I could ignore all the politics. Stop it reaching down into my family, and our lives. I could do nothing. I could carry on checking museum dates, diaries, imagining our visit over there, to the sea. I could do that. But I know that would be dishonest to what I feel. So indifference is not a good idea. Flowers would wilt. Cats would die. The day would rain, hard. Guilty, I would blame me.

Which leaves only one option. Go out at ten in the morning. Run the High Street from top to bottom. Bash dustbin lids. Clap hands. Be obvious. Be wild women tall and small. Be noisy, dangerous, free spirited. Laugh, loudly.

17 comments:

My son hit his head and I found myself debating whether or not to take him to A&E...because I didn't want them thinking I was one of those HE abusing types. Before the review I would have jumped in the car without a second thought.

He was fine. It was nothing but this is an example of the little things that have changed.

We too are still going out during the day, educating the populus on HE and wearing our "choose fun not school" T shirts loudly and proudly.

Have you consider the Leper approach? Maybe walking the streets dressed in white with your heads covered and ringing a bell whilst chanting 'unclean, unclean' will deflect the unwanted attentions of the Truancy Patrol and, in true British fashion, everyone else will avert their gaze and totally ignore your existence.

To kellyi - we almost lived at A&E during my younger son's early years, I was sure I would be struck off the Childminding Register and that he would be taken into Care! Never happened, although there were jokes about having our own cubicle when we made THREE visits in the space of a month - one head x-ray (no second brain found in the ginormous lump on his forehead!), 8 butterfly strips to a gashed forearm and finally a back-slab for a broken elbow!

You've made me start to cry reading this. I'm not prone to crying in front of a computer, but you've made me realise that I've buried my head in the sand for too long,trying to ignore government meddlings. We are seriously thinking of emigrating, just to get some peace, and do our own thing. Thanks for always giving me thought-provoking, wise and funny words to read.- Jackie

Totally - I have found myself looking at my neighbours and wondering which of them is going to report us first, or standing at the bus stop, on a weekday, during the day and wondering which of my fellow queuers is going to question us first. Before, I never had a problem with fending off the 'No school today?'s now they have all taken on a sinister avoid me at all costs feel - which is actually ridiculous because most people where we live probably wouldn't even know what the intitials DCSF stood for!!But we will not stay in because we know what is good for us - we will carry on going out for exactly that reason.Mandy :)

If the public see us out and about, and obvious, it exposes the lie. Likewise, if your MP, or Councillors have met you or corresponded with you, you are again exposing the lie. If your child gets hurt, then don't hesitate. Get them to A&E and demand treatment. Again this exposes the lie. What it tells people is that home educators are out about in their community, they are bold and proud, they are active in politics and they aren't scared of acting on their concerns. Eventually the lie and the truth won't tally and people will stop believing the lie.

Yes, thanks Grit :) It's been a really amazing year in so many ways. Last year I was depressed and defeated, this year I refuse to give any more of our lives to the joy eaters.

Raquel, you are brilliant! Love your comment - so simple yet so difficult to realise that it IS that simple. Meeting you and M was one of the highlights of last year, we wouldn't have ever done that were it not for badman, so for that, and other friendships that came my way because of all this, I thank you Bad Man.

I can totally identify with following politics having taken over chunks of your time. Every day I log on check my mail, check a standard list of blogs, check Twitter and finally the Yahoo groups, following links, reading, commenting, downloading for reference. Yesterday I spent sodin hours fisking a government document, today I MUST get on with a letter to a Lord.

OTOH going out is much as it was, I'm bloody minded me, I want a truancy patrol to stop me! Of course it'll never happen, like NSPCC collectors in the high street and Jehovah's Witnesses I think they have this 6th sense for trouble and keep away from me.

Yes, let's all make a lot of noise! :) And make people laugh, too! There's not enough laughter and too much fear.

And about emigrating: I did that. I came to this country because I wasn't free to home educate in my native country. So I can understand why people (want to) do it. I know I am lucky to have teenagers, who have learned so much of being involved in this whole process in the past year and who wouldn't really suffer from any of this Bill going through. But their children might...

I use every opportunity to tell people how beneficial home education has been / is to my children and to share the truth about the government plans and I do try and point out the disadvantages of the school system without giving the school choosing people too much of a guilty feeling...

If the government thought their accusations and slander were going to drive me underground they were gravely mistaking. I had dozens of reasons to keep to myself and go my own sweet home educating way before, but now I have even more reasons to be noisy and dangerously free spirited. Thanks for your encouragement, Grit :).

Loud applause from me! I concur that this is *just* what I needed to read today and every day. I have found myself doing and thinking as you have done and I totally agree that when the fearful impulse to keep indoors comes over me I must fight it.

I wholeheartedly agree. Every single truthful response and action exposes the lie - whether it's going about your daily life, talking to people openly and honestly, writing blog posts, commenting on news articles and showing others what a positive choice home ed is.

There is a growing network of people who are resisting the onslaught of profoundly anti-family, anti-individual government initiatives. We are finding each other online and forging such strong bonds that it's only a matter of time before we become as familiar with each other in real life.

Really, the government has completely underestimated how driven people are to protect their families - not to mention their freedom. We just need to keep calm and carry on :)

We have to embrace our rights, or we lose them. We're not violating any laws, we are free to visit museums, and libraries in the morning, just the same as any school class out in the middle of the day for a field trip. Just imagine, a "teacher" cringing, and looking over his/her shoulder as they lead their class of 30 students through the entrance of the Zoo. We shouldn't cringe either!

Two daughters are now at 6th form for A-levels, and one is mucking about in a college playing with clay, paint and wax. Mostly, it's all about culture clash.If you are looking for primary, try the archives under 2011 or 2012. Ideas? Try Seven days with elephants.

Secondary home ed? Try 2012 or 2014 through to 2016.

Exams made life boring for us all and the blog stopped for long periods so the home educated could concentrate on enjoying some teens.

Here I am

When we reach the end of the road we discover the beginning of the field.
Parent, educator, thinker, doer, prevaricator, writer, maker, messer-upper, consensus-seeker, polemic, conflict-avoider, conflict-seeker, vegetarian, leather fondler, shouty person, 'don't-pick-fights-with-me, mister', book dipper, theatre-goer, watcher of films, and person who has unruly thoughts, generally. Prefer the imaginative world where everything is under my control.

where is everybody?

This blog is a record of a home educationwrit for parents thinking about home edwrit for the LA who need an education about home edwrit for Grit's friends and relations who drop in once a yearand writ for Grit's sane and lovely mind.

The internal DCSF Consultation Report, made public 23 January. (pdf)In Annex A, 94% of respondents disagreed that the local authority should have the power to interview a home educated child alone.When this comes out Ed Balls' mouth in the Second Reading Debate, 94% against turns to:'The vast majority of parents would be happy to let that happen'(Hansard 11.01.10, Children, Schools and Families Bill, col 437.)

Love it or loathe it? The petition still broke a record.Press release in the Mirror, Channel4 news, the Guardian.

'Even if you don't currently see yourself home educating, you never know what the future might hold, and if a time comes when you find yourself needing to pull your child out of school, I hope the option is still available to you, and you don't regret thinking *it's nothing to do with me*.'

Read the Right to Reply'Home educators are renowned for their strong opinions and independent spirit. They come from all faiths and none. They have as many approaches to education as there are children. They rarely agree on anything. And yet they are remarkably united in their opposition to these proposals. There is great concern that their way of life will be legislated out of existence.'--Response to the Badman Review of Elective Home Education in England and reaction to the Select Committee hearing.

The problem with home educators is that they are impossible to define. The only things that links them is respect for their children. And did the state just stagger foolishly across that line?Are we sandal wearing tree huggers who let our kids run wild or control mad Jesus freaks who don't want them learning about sex and evolution? Are we hot housing or leaving them to watch TV and play computer games all day? -Firebird.The UK government suggested that we home educate our children to cover up our abuse.On that issue, would you like some statistics?

'The Department [for Children, Schools and Families] is aware that attempts are being made on the Internet to vilify and harass the author of the review. It is the Department's view that, whilst dealing with each request on its merits, this situation will have to be taken into account in dealing with any relevant FOI requests. ... we anticipate the need to consider whether it is in the public interest to release information likely to intensify any such campaign, or to lead to harassment or distress to individuals.'Hello DCSF. Vilify: to make vicious and defamatory statements about.Like putting it about that home educated children are abused by their parents? Isolated? Unsocialised? Denied an education?And the latest one, that their mothers have Munchhausen's Syndrome by Proxy, and benefit from their child's suffering.

... compulsory registration, entry to the home, inspection according to external standards, and power to see the child without the parent present.By implication this applies to anyone who has their child at home with them: particularly parents with under 5s, but also those with school-aged children who are at home in the evenings, over the weekends, and throughout the summer holidays. Think on: the possibility of parental inspection, with or without your presence, based on the very human whim of a local authority officer.Is that okay with you?Renegade Parent on the implications for all parents from the Badman review of home education.

'Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children'.(Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Article 26.3)

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